The pattern of rheumatoid arthritis in West Africa and comparison with a cohort of British patients.

Inadequate information is available on the care burden and severity of rheumatological diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis in West Africa. We therefore studied patients with rheumatoid arthritis presenting to a rheumatology unit in Nigeria and compared these with patients presenting to a British rheumatology unit. The West African patients were younger at onset of disease, less frequently had a family history, showed fewer extra-articular features and erosions and were less commonly rheumatoid factor positive. The overall mildness of the disease in the West Africans was striking.